Investment choices, upgrade camera or lenses?

I'm clueless as to which would be the better investment.

Current equipment:

350D
Kit lens (in my case, total garbage)

70-300mm f/4.9-5.6 IS USM (which I *just* found out last night falls into the "third number in serial number 0 or 1" category, so it will be sent for repair

nifty fifty ( LOVE that little cheapie)

Sigma 15-30mm f/3.5-4.5 EX Aspherical (Would like to sell)

Sigma 70-300 mm ( Bought that one the day I bought the camera. Still like it for Macro)

I would love to get the 5D, but (of course) I also want some premium lenses. I enjoy taking people photos and landscape, and would love to move on to portraiture.

Any help and just personal opinions appreciated.

Lenses first, bodies are always poor investment.

Sorry for the double post. Is there any way to delete one?

Unless there is a specific feature that you need, which the XT doesn't have, I'd go for better glass. Bodies come and go, but a good lens is a long term investment. You have a good lens in your Canon 70-300, perhaps get rid of the 7-3 Sigma and replace it with a true macro? You're also kinda lacking for a good walkabout lens, lots of good options on that one.

whats your budget?

Welcometo POTN Lori.....its a mistake to think of photography equipment as an investment (financially) as virtually all equipment depreciates, bodies and lower qualitity lenses very quickly with high quality lenses depreciating the slowest. So buy the best quality you can afford, take lots of shots and enjoy this great hobby for many years.

sm1rf wrote in post #2357045
whats your budget?

Budget would top out around $5000. Anything more than that and I'd have to get a D-I-V-O-R-C-E!

crn3371 wrote in post #2357022
Unless there is a specific feature that you need, which the XT doesn't have, I'd go for better glass. Bodies come and go, but a good lens is a long term investment. You have a good lens in your Canon 70-300, perhaps get rid of the 7-3 Sigma and replace it with a true macro? You're also kinda lacking for a good walkabout lens, lots of good options on that one.

Any personal favorites you'd choose to recommend?

5K is a pretty healthy budget. Based on your shooting desires...I would snag a 5D, 24-70 430EX combo first...sell off the rest of your old gear and then grab a 70-200.

LoriKelso wrote in post #2357121
Budget would top out around $5000. Anything more than that and I'd have to get a D-I-V-O-R-C-E!

If you are planning on selling the equipment you have now, with an existing budget of $5000.00 plus the money from the sale plus rebates you could feasibly go with a 5D plus L glass from 24mm to 300mm. Do you shoot subjects that require longer focal lengths or more towards the shorter focal lengths? With that much cash available it is easy to buy stuff you want but don't need, trust me I know!

LoriKelso wrote in post #2357121
Budget would top out around $5000. Anything more than that and I'd have to get a D-I-V-O-R-C-E!

That should buy some good gear, like other posters have said, get the best glass you can afford,

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5,
Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L, /[URL="http://[URL]www.​onestop-digital.com/catalog/pr​oduct_info.php?cPath=2​4_26&products_id=36"] Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L [URL="http://[URL]www.​onestop-digital.com/catalog/pr​oduct_info.php?cPath=2​4_26&products_id=94"]C​anon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L,
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS,
they would be a good start or the Sigma/Tamron equivalents for less money, L glass can't be beat i believe for build quality.
A combination of the above and a 30D would be my personal choice purely on a faster frame rate basis.

LoriKelso wrote in post #2357121
Budget would top out around $5000. Anything more than that and I'd have to get a D-I-V-O-R-C-E!

Your current camera is more than good enough. A better camera will not make a noticeable difference.

You should probably get Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L and 70-200mm f/2.8L IS first (about $2500-$2800). Then, get some flash/strobe lights for portraiture (from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars). And a tripod, a few memory cards. If there is money left, get a computer with large RAM and fast harddisk drive, and Photoshop CS2.

Go for good glass.Glass is always a better investment.A 70-200 f2.8 IS,a 17-40 or a 300 f2.8 IS...or ALL othem.

jimlp wrote in post #2357212
If you are planning on selling the equipment you have now, with an existing budget of $5000.00 plus the money from the sale plus rebates you could feasibly go with a 5D plus L glass from 24mm to 300mm. Do you shoot subjects that require longer focal lengths or more towards the shorter focal lengths? With that much cash available it is easy to buy stuff you want but don't need, trust me I know!

I prefer to shoot subjects that require shorter focal lengths. I seem to get my best results shooting people. The whole buying stuff I want but don't need is the thing I'm trying to avoid, .

i would do a 5d, and a 24-105L f4 is, get the double rebate which is 600 off 5d and 90-100 for lens. buy off amazon for no tax and if ur prime member free shipping.